Stephen B. Thornton of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette has been named grand prize recipient and first-place winner for spot news photography in the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association's annual photo/video contest.
It's the second consecutive year that Thornton has won the contest's grand prize. Staton Breidenthal of the Democrat-Gazette was also among award recipients.
Thornton's winning photo, published March 31, was of Little Rock Fire Capt. Steve Kotch rescuing an unidentified woman from her car during flooding in Little Rock's Boyle Park. The photo captured first place in the spot news category in the association's Judges Awards as well. Judges were chosen by The Associated Press.
Thornton also received an honorable mention for a photograph in the sports category under the Judges Awards.
Thornton and Breidenthal were among five photographers tied for third place for photos in the sports category under the Readers Choice Awards, voted on by Southern Newspaper Publishers Association members and their readers.
Breidenthal also tied for third place for a photo in the Readers' Choice features category.
Awarded photographs can be viewed by visiting the association's website, snpa.org, and clicking on "Photo Contest" under the Hotline/Surveys/Awards tab.
Metro on 09/22/2016